Q poll: Most disapprove of President Obama's handling of the economy but he gets better marks than congressional Republicans

A new Quinnipiac University poll has both bad news and good news for President Obama.

A decisive majority of American voters -- 56 percent -- disapprove of the way he is handling the economy, according to the poll released this morning. Yet they trust him to do a better job on fiscal issues than the Republicans in Congress.

"The American people aren't very happy about their leaders, but President Barack Obama is viewed as the best of the worst, especially when it comes to the economy," Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac Polling institute, said in a press release accompanying the poll results.

When asked about Congressional Republicans, 65 percent of respondents said they disapprove of the way the GOP members are doing their jobs, compared with 26 percent who approve. That's a slight increase from the 61 percent disapporval that Congressional Republicans received in the June 9 poll.

When asked about the discussions to raise the nation's debt limit, nearly half -- 48 percent -- said it would be the GOP's fault if an agreement is not reached; 34 percent said it would be Obama's fault.

Sixty-seven percent said they favored increasing taxes on businesses and the wealthy as part of an agreement to raise the debt ceiling; 25 percent said it should be accomplished solely through spending cuts.

Today's poll was conducted via live interviews from both land lines and cell phones from July 5 to 11. Quinnipiac surveyed 2.311 registered voters from around the nation. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.

The poll shows just how grimly Americans view the current state of the economy. Just 3 percent said they were "very satisfied" with the way things are going in the nation today, while 24 percent said they were "somewhat satisfied."

In contrast, 64 percent of those surveyed said they were either "somewhat dissatisfied" or "very dissatisfied."

And 90 percent of respondents described the U.S. economy as either "not so good" or "poor."

Interestingly, 54 percent blame former President George W. Bush for the current state of the economy, even though Obama has been in office for more than two years. Younger voters were more likely to lay the blame on Bush -- 62 percent of those 18 to 34 said it was Bush's fault, while 52 percent of those 35 and older did.